Vine app: porn flubs, ads, creative uses multiply

Twitter’s first standalone product, the Vine app launched last Thursday to some substantial technical glitches that allowed users to sign into accounts that weren’t theirs, followed by criticism that it only launched in iTunes, ignoring Android users, and of course, the talk of the town is the rampant porn on the app.

The sticking point for many users is the challenge that most social networks have: porn. Some are calling the problem “rampant,” and analysts are questioning the shelf life of the app in light of a pornographic video being featured as an “Editor’s Pick” this morning on the Vine app, whic a Twitter spokesperson has said was a “human error,” issuing an apology for the error.

Apple has removed the app from their “Featured” section due to the unresolved porn issues, and some speculate that despite offering flagging mechanisms for users, the app could already be in trouble in light of the “500px” app removed completely from the App Store last week as it was too easy to search it for inappropriate materials.

WE still think Vine is the best thing since sliced bread

Twitter’s Vine app has had a rough first few days, but bad user behavior and technical glitches aside, some pretty creative uses are emerging and while some are calling them “ads” as they feature branded content or visual depictions behind the scenes of companies, we would call it simply “social media.”

There is something novel, something fun, something interesting that Vine has because (a) it auto-plays the looped animated gif, (b) it defaults to mute, thank goodness, and (c) it hits the sweet spot in between photo sharing and video sharing, so despite criticism, it’s looking good to us!

See nothing but Vine app updates in real time

Over the weekend, several websites launched to show people what was happening on Vine in real time, each with a unique perspective, but none of which are filtered, so inappropriate updates are included.

VineRoulette – VineRoulette describes itself as a “full-screen visualization of short videos posted around the world with Vine.” What we LIKE about the site is that you can hover over different videos and play which ones you want instead of waiting to load one at a time, and what we DON’T LIKE about it is that it is extremely resource heavy and really slowed down our computers, but it would be fun for parties or conferences.

VinesMap – VinesMap prompts you to “see where Vines are being posted in real-time on a map,” which is pretty novel. We LIKE that you can see where clusters of activity are, but what we DON’T LIKE is that it is not automatically muted (neither is VineRoulette), which is annoying.

vinepeek – our favorite, Vinepeek “shows you newly posted Vines in realtime,” warning that the stream is unmoderated. It offers one video at a time, and what we LIKE is that it is the easiest to navigate and actually get to the tweet of the three, making it the most accessible, and what we DON’T LIKE is that there’s no back button, so if you miss something you wanted to click on, you’re out of luck.

Vine is going to be a hit

We predict that like Twitter, Vine will be a hit. It will be used, abused, and ignored as novelty by some, but it will certainly be fun for personal use, but great for business use to do instructional videos, behind-the-scenes shots, product shots, and more in an effort to humanize any brand. We forecast that when the Android app is released, Vine will become a mainstream staple.

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Marti Trewe reports on business and technology news, chasing his passion for helping entrepreneurs and small businesses to stay well informed in the fast paced 140-character world. Marti rarely sleeps and thrives on reader news tips, especially about startups and big moves in leadership.